Hog Heroes are needed to help Milton Keynes' prickly pals

Great Linford Parish Council (GLPC) is worried that landscaping works currently being carried out by MK Council are cutting back bushes and putting the hibernating hedgehog population at risk.

They are asking for volunteers to search undergrowth and bushes in their area to find nests to they can be moved to a place of safety, away from landscaping machinery.

MK Council's contractors say they will checking all areas in advance, but GLPC would like to help the them find the hogs and is calling on everyone to have a rummage too.

Any hedgehogs found will be moved to a safe location as close as possible to where they were nesting..

“These hedgehogs are at risk, and we need to take action quickly,” said a spokesman for Great Linford Parish Council, “The alternative is that hedgehogs get caught up in the machinery and do not survive.

He added: " “The hog population has been decimated in recent years. These magnificent little creatures need all

the support we can provide while we still have the chance to help them."

Hedgehogs are one of our favourite mammals but their numbers are in worrying decline with intensification of agriculture, roadkill and predation all having a negative effect.

Data from The Hedgehog Preservation Society shows that since 2000 numbers of hogs have declined by half in rural areas and by a third in urban spaces. The species is now classified as vulnerable to extinction.

GLPC has consulted with The Hedgehog Preservation Society and Tiggywinkles Animal Rescue and has a Hedgehog Rescue Plan information leaflet for anyone wishing to step up as a hog hero and take part in the scheme.

You can email [email protected] for your copy.